Morocco’s solar plans, why not Australia?
Thoughts
Morocco is about to power half of its energy grid with solar power thanks to its abundant year long sunshine according to this really interesting post from CleanTechnica. Why isn't Australia doing this?!
Morocco will invest $9 billion upfront to build 2 Gigawatts of solar power, distributed between 5 solar power plants, by 2020.
The 2 GW (2,000 Megawatts) is enough to supply 40% of the nation’s electricity to 32 million souls, who apparently have fairly modest energy needs.
This is a fantastic idea on so many levels; lower pollution output is the obvious one but the potential for entire new clean industries employing local people is huge. This is what short sighted governments either don't understand or don't care about because the effects would be felt after their current terms in office.
While the average Aussie uses far more electricity than the average Moroccan (the demand side of the equation that also need addressing with more efficient appliances), much of Australia basks under intense year long sunshine. Unfortunately Australia is also swimming in coal and has enough vested interests to make sure we keep digging it out of the ground and burning it.
I hate it when I answer my own questions :P.
